Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recently sought public consultation regarding revisions to Sections 4 and 5 of The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (The National Statement). Section 4 refers to ethical considerations for potentially vulnerable research participants, including patients in emergency and intensive care.1 The draft provides updated definitions of vulnerability: describing it as existing on a spectrum and dependent on circumstances, as opposed to labelling specific groups as vulnerable. It addresses researchers' ethical obligations to conduct inclusive research with representative samples, so results are generalisable to a wider population. Ambiguous and contradictory sections of the draft remain; particularly relating to emergency and intensive care research participants, and the use of what is often labelled ‘delayed’ or ‘deferred’ consent.